Yamaguchi, city in central Japan on the southwestern tip of Honshu Island, in central Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Fushino River. Yamaguchi is the capital and chief commercial center of Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is a market town for a productive rice-growing region. There are many historic temples and shrines in the city. The Rurikoji Temple, built in 1442 by the daimyo (feudal lord) Ouchi Moriharu, is known for its five-storied pagoda and has been designated a national treasure. Other noteworthy attractions in the city include the Mori family tombs and the garden of the Joeiji Temple. Every July the Yasaka Shrine hosts the Yamaguchi Gion Festival, an event patterned after traditions in Kyoto, a city about 410 km (about 255 mi) to the east. Other attractions in Yamaguchi are a museum and memorial chapel dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who visited Yamaguchi in 1550 during his quest to convert the Japanese to Christianity. Outside the city is Akiyoshi-dai, a limestone upland known for its spectacular karst (barren) topography, and Akiyoshi-do, one of the largest limestone caves in the world.
Yamaguchi was founded in the 14th century as the castle headquarters of Ouchi Hiroyo, a daimyo serving the powerful Ashikaga family. Many aristocrats from Kyoto settled in Yamaguchi as a refuge from the Onin War (1467-1477), a civil war in the Kyoto region that preluded a century of domestic strife. As a result the city has been referred to as “Western Kyoto.” Yamaguchi remained an important regional castle town under the Ouchi family until about 1555, when power was shifted to the Mori family and the rival town Hagi became more influential. Population (1999) 135,066.
